Saudi Journal of Pathology and Microbiology (SJPM)
Volume-4 | Issue-02 | 87-91
Original Research Article
To Analyse the Prevalence of Hepatitis B & Hepatitis C in Blood Donors at Tertiary Health Care Centre
Dr. Pulkit Bist, Dr. Arun Saxena, Dr. Prachi Mehta
Published : Feb. 28, 2019
Abstract
Background: The study titled ―A cross-sectional analysis of Seropositivity of Hepatitis B & Hepatitis C amongst blood
volunteer donors at tertiary health care centre: 10 year study. Method: Records of blood donors collected in the past
decade were evaluated and information regarding screening tests was being noted. In addition, a questionnaire was being
prepared to collected information about all subjects such as general profile, history of exposure to risky procedures or
behaviours, family history of Hepatitis B infection, immunization against Hepatitis B in three doses etc. Result: The
above table shows distribution of donors according to type of donor. 54028 (90.81%) donors were Replacement Donors
while only 5467 (9.19%) donors were Voluntary Donors. Out of the total 59495 donors in past 10 years, 1020 (1.71%)
were diagnosed to be HBsAg positive. Out of the total 59495 donors in past 10 years, 475 (0.79%) were diagnosed to be
HCV positive. 74 (1.35%) of voluntary donors in last 10 years came out to be Hepatitis B positive. 58 (1.06%) of
voluntary donors in last 10 years came out to be Hepatitis C positive. The above table shows the year-wise number of
total donors and voluntary donors. It also shows the number of HBsAg. As per the above tables, there was significantly
higher seropositivity among replacement donors as compared to voluntary donors. Conclusion: A large proportion of
HBsAg and HCV infected individuals are not aware of their infective status. It is not only dangerous to not know this as
these infections are also sexually transmitted to the spouse or any other sexual partners of such individuals. Also, at the
time of emergency for the need of blood, such individuals may be a false assurance of source of blood until being tested
and refused by the blood bank before actual donation. This may aggravate the situation by rendering in need to search for
another source of blood. An increased public health education on the subject is necessary especially for those at a higher
risk. Also, voluntary blood donation should be encouraged to fetch safe and tested blood in contrast to the replacement
donation where transfusion-transmitted infections tend to be much higher.